USA: Geothermal is worlds cheapest and best kept secret for renewable energy

Geothermal energy has the largest potential in the western part of our country. Geothermal plants are very site-specific and are limited to places that have highly accessible reserves of high temperature ground water. With a lack of transmission lines in western states there have been limitations on its growth. The other major limitation has been the fact that completing a geothermal power generating project takes anywhere from 4 to 8 years which is much longer than completion timelines for solar or wind.

As technology progresses, it is expected that the turnaround time for a geothermal build-out will be reduced substantially. Once this is achieved, we will be able to better utilize one of the worlds cheapest and best kept secrets for renewable energy. The earth itself.